


december 1st

by leatherandlace



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: F/F, Mellivia December, mellivia bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 13:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8715703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leatherandlace/pseuds/leatherandlace
Summary: Olivia took one last sip of her coffee. “Okay, darling,” She whispered, setting the mug down on the counter, which was smothered in holiday garnish. “Let’s go get a tree.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> YAY, its December 1st, and also the beginning of Mellivia December! I'm so excited to show you all what @aprosebyanyothername and I have planned. I hope you like this, and happy holidays! xoxox.

**December 1 st, 25 days before Christmas**

**_iii._**

  

Olivia knew that when she came home to their apartment Mellie would be in the Christmas spirit—maybe a couple boxes of decorations laid out, waiting to be unpacked, a carol playing in the background, perhaps even sugar cookies baking in the oven. It was December 1st, after all, marking the beginning of the Christmas season, as well as Mellie’s favorite time of year. What she didn’t expect, however, was an explosion of decorations and holiday-affiliated objects coating their apartment as if Christmas itself vomited all over the place. Mellie stood near the fireplace, her fingers wrapped around a pine needle scented candle, a large Christmas sweater engulfing her tiny frame and her hair pulled back with a red ribbon. _I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas_ played softly in the background, and the whole world seemed to sparkle as Mellie turned to look at Olivia.

           

 

“Get your coat on, sweetheart. I’ve waited long enough.” Mellie crooned, her voice dripping with sweetness but her eyes holding a hint of mischief. Olivia knew exactly what she was talking about, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she stepped over box upon box (labeled accordingly with TREE ORNAMENTS, CERAMIC VILLAGE: FRAGILE, and more) to put her purse down on the kitchen counter and make herself a cup of coffee.

           

 

Mellie was that person who started Christmas the day after Halloween ended, whereas Olivia thought it plausible that they should actually wait until December—at least until Thanksgiving was over—to even _mutter_ the word “Christmas.” Even so, Mellie begged Olivia to go out and get the Christmas tree with her the day after Thanksgiving, but Olivia wouldn’t budge. Mellie eventually acquiesced, though grudgingly, and the last days of November consisted of Mellie wearing a Christmas sweater and baking cookies as a makeshift act of holiday defiance. But, alas, it was December 1st, and so it was the day to buy the Christmas tree and finally start the festivities.

 

 

Mellie worked her way into the kitchen, still clutching her pine-scented candle. She thrust it under Olivia’s nose, practically knocking over her coffee, and hummed in approval, “You smell that, Liv? _Pine_. Soon we can have the real thing, if you just stop being an ass and change into some warm clothes.”

 

 

“I just got home from work, give me a minute.” Olivia laughed, turning to look at Mellie with a mock frown. A Christmas tree would definitely spice up the apartment, what with the sadness plaguing the place as of late.

 

 

(Mellie had lost the election to Vargas, and it very nearly broke her—she had truly thought she had won, and though Vargas wasn’t necessarily a _bad_ candidate, it wasn’t _her_. It was humiliating and horrifying and absolutely one of the worst experiences of her life. Olivia was equally let down—they had both put their heart and soul into the campaign, and it was all for nothing. At least that’s what they had thought. Though their campaign had ended badly, their friendship had not. In fact, it seemed to strengthen it, each of them leaning on the other for support after the race. Without really any sort of discussion, Mellie had moved into Olivia’s apartment as well as becoming an official member of Olivia Pope and Associates. It was hard, but together they were getting over their loss. Secretly, Olivia thought they had gained something far more important.)

 

 

Looking at Mellie in this moment, her eyes full of the baited anticipation that Christmas embodied, Olivia was struck with the woman’s absolute beauty. Mellie’s nose was a rosy pink, due to her refusing to turn on the heat, a lover of the frigid cold; her hair resided in dark curls behind her head, and her lipstick was as red as her sweater, making her seem like an actual angel that emitted soft, wonderful light, light that Olivia had the absolute pleasure in basking herself in. It seemed to take everything in Olivia not to lean over and kiss Mellie, not to confess her unyielding love for this woman who had been so many things in her life, everything and anything but a lover. Though there were fewer risks now that the race was over, there were still risks. Olivia couldn’t subject Mellie to the negative publicity, the possible end of her political career, just for her own personal gain.

 

 

Olivia took one last sip of her coffee. “Okay, darling,” She whispered, setting the mug down on the counter, which was smothered in holiday garnish. “Let’s go get a tree.”

 

 

****

****

“How about this one?” Olivia pointed to a towering pine tree, one that stood a full foot above all the others in the field for at least a quarter mile.

 

 

Mellie looked at it, her nose screwed up in indecision, and shook her head. “It’s not the one.” Olivia sighed exasperatedly, trudging behind Mellie as they walked for what seemed like hours, swerving between hundreds of Christmas trees to find a seemingly nonexistent, perfect tree that Mellie was imagining. “You have to think of what they’re gonna look like in our living room, Olivia.” Mellie lectured, stepping over a stump with an impractical high-heeled boot. “You have to make sure at least one side doesn’t have any holes or dying branches—there can be a little bit of a mess on one side, just as long as the other is alright.” Olivia was half ignoring her, half smiling at her ramblings, but Mellie seemed to be enjoying herself. “It can be the tallest tree for miles around and _still_ not be the one. I kinda want a blue spruce, though. You know, the ones that are sharp as a knife and make you bleed if it pokes you the wrong way? Those are strong trees, especially cause we’re getting it so early.”

           

 

Olivia shook her head at Mellie’s incessant small talk, wanting nothing more than to shut her up with a kiss, a kiss that would probably taste of pine and sap and that intoxicating perfume that Mellie wore. Instead, she shook her head and grabbed Mellie’s gloved hand in hers.

           

 

It took about a half an hour for them to find the ‘perfect’ tree, a generously sized blue spruce that was as wide as it was tall, making Mellie’s eyes absolutely glisten with excitement. As the Christmas tree made its way to their apartment (courtesy of Huck, who offered to transport the tree and then set it up), and when it finally stood, tall and proud, in their living room, Mellie felt her heart swell with some sort of feeling, especially whenever Olivia squeezed her hand, or grinned at her with excitement. Mellie always loved Christmas, but Christmases at the White House were anything but enjoyable—it was her responsibility to cover every inch of every room and hallway with some sort of Christmas garb, and as much as she loved the holiday, anyone would get sick of it in that capacity. But this year, oh _this_ year, she was already feeling underwhelmed with festive responsibilities. Instead, she was actually having a good time preparing for the season, especially when Olivia was by her side the whole time, complimenting every ornament and Christmas decoration she bought for the apartment, tacking on a ‘you shouldn’t have.’

           

 

Thanks to Mellie, the boxes of ornaments were already set up in the living room for them, and they wasted no time on procrastinating. Before Olivia could even take off her coat, Mellie had turned on the Christmas music radio station and lit a sugar cookie candle, practically dancing around the apartment with a fantastic grin on her face.

           

 

When Olivia was a child, she remembered what felt like magic when she started decorating a Christmas tree—it felt like stars were twinkling in her living room when they first plugged in the lights, and young Olivia could almost _see_ the presents that were soon to come. Though there would be an absence of dolls and toys under the tree, Olivia still felt the faux magic when Mellie pressed red glass ornaments into her hand, or when she used Olivia’s shoulders as balance to slide adornments on the sharp branches of the tree, or even with the soft smiles Mellie kept throwing her way, Olivia felt like the greatest gift of all was right under her fingertips.

 

 

**_iii._ **

****

****

Later that night, Mellie and Olivia sat on the couch under layers of wool and knitted sweaters and lying so closely together that Mellie couldn’t really focus on anything at all, besides the light emitting from the Christmas tree and the press of Olivia’s warm arms around her. “Our tree looks great, Liv.” Mellie said despite herself, her nervousness supplying any words on her mind to ease her anxiety.

           

 

“It really does. I love that I can have some ornaments from your kids on there, not just the cliché red balls.” Olivia smiled up at the spruce whose star very nearly scratched their ceiling but looked beautiful all the same. Makeshift second grade snowflakes and baby pictures besieged the branches and made the tree look less professional than Olivia was accustomed to, but she absolutely loved it—it made her feel like Mellie and her kids were real, tangible family, like they were her future. Olivia didn’t think she could get any happier than she did when she looked at that tree, her arms wrapped around Mellie Grant like a picturesque Christmas Hallmark movie.

           

 

Olivia made the mistake of looking down at the woman in her arms, who was looking back up at her with matching intensity, a cocktail of unknown emotions clouding her eyes. Mellie’s chestnut curls framed her face in what seemed like an angelic halo, her blue eyes and the curved slope of her nose and soft pink lips enticing Olivia with each breath, so much that she was ready to throw every bit of self control to the wind. She didn’t know if it was how beautiful Mellie looked in the moment, or that the ambiance of Christmas that blanketed the room was messing with her sense of reality (it was probably both), but all of a sudden Olivia was leaning down to connect her lips with Mellie’s, and Mellie was reciprocating, wrapping her arms around Olivia’s neck and pulling her further down. Mellie tasted exactly like Olivia thought she would—like her perfume and pine and sap, like Christmas bottled into one intoxicating woman, one intoxicating woman that was kissing her with such happiness and joy that Olivia thought she was damn near explosion.

           

 

Mellie suddenly pulled back, her lips pink and swollen and her eyes wild with excitement. “ _Fuck_ , I love Christmas.” She whispered, smiling with a plethora of euphoric emotions. Olivia just shook her head, and pulled Mellie in for the second kiss of _many_ that Christmas season.


End file.
